Nn Man Strives To Make An Ecological Difference

Earth Day 1990 has been described as an environmental encore to again warn people that the planet we live on is becoming more polluted every day.

Environmentalists throughout the world have repeatedly stressed that the Earth's inhabitants need to literally clean up their act and stop trashing the globe and its atmosphere.

They are also reminding people that it is the individual who can and will make the difference in providing a healthier place to live.

Scores of concerned residents on the Peninsula have quietly taken the initiative to make a positive impact toward reversing the deterioration of the communities in which they live. They police highways and byways, picking up trash and litter put there by thoughtless motorists and pedestrians. They conserve heat and water, recycle glass and aluminum cans, and are very careful not to use harmful pesticides that pollute the ground when gardening.

Richard Tucker of Newport News is a prime example of just how much difference individuals can make in helping to preserve the environment.

Tucker, 66, has been picking up other people's trash for the past couple of years along Warwick Boulevard between Oyster Point Road and Denbigh Boulevard.

"Denbigh is my home and I would love to see the streets always clean," says Tucker, who got involved in his clean-up project last year through the Adopt-A-Highway program.

"I had seen the Adopt-A-Highway signs in North Carolina and elsewhere in Virginia. I had also read about the program and learned that more and more folks were picking up trash and recycling items to help the environment. That's when I decided to become involved."

Tucker, who has had a hip operation, says the clean-up task is a form of exercise for him, but he needs help in getting the job done.

"It is 2.1 miles from Oyster Point Road to Denbigh Boulevard, but it adds up to 6.3 miles by the time I cover both sides of Warwick Boulevard and the median strip," he explains.

"My former helper is ill. I'm trying my best, but I need some help. I go out there about twice a month, but it is disheartening to return and see the places I have cleaned are dirty all over again."

Tucker has even asked for assistance from city farm inmates, who cut the grass on each side and in the middle of Warwick Boulevard.

"In the past, some of the workers who have walked ahead of the mower and picked up litter have placed the items in shrubbery. I've asked that they put the litter in a trash bag instead. So far, they have been very cooperative," he says.

He picks up two to six bags of trash every time he goes foraging along the highway. During the month of January, he filled 19 bags with roadside litter and in February the tally was nine bags. He spends from two to four hours picking up the trash each time he goes out.